Will Virginia Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Sarvis Crack Open the Corrupt Democrat/Republican Duopoly?

Libertarian gubernatorial
candidate Robert Sarvis’ campaign slogan: “Open Minded and Open for
Business” has to be one of the most copacetic I’ve ever
encountered. If Sarvis can clear the 10 percent electoral benchmark
that would give the Libertarian Party a line on the ballots of the
Old Dominion through 2021, offering Virginians a way to get beyond
the intellectually bankrupt so-called major parties. The
Danville Register and Bee
summed up the situation well in its editorial endorsement of
Sarvis:

Both the Democrats and Republicans failed to come up with good
gubernatorial candidates this year. If we were to endorse either
McAuliffe or Cuccinelli, we would be playing their game. “If you
always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve
always got,” the saying goes.

Robert Sarvis offers a real alternative this year, a break from
the two-party paradigm that has not served us well.

As a Libertarian, Sarvis favors restraints on the size and scope
of government. We’re comfortable with that.

“I realized that the Republican Party, at least in Virginia, in
the current era, is not a good vehicle for liberty candidates,”
Sarvis told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in August. “Republicans are
very strident on personal issues. When they talk about liberty,
they don’t mean any personal issues, there is very little respect
for personal autonomy.

“And on economic issues, it’s almost like they don’t believe in
what they talk about. They talk about limited government, but they
are just as bad as the other party at cronyism, raising taxes and
growing government.”

If there is one knock on Sarvis’ record, it is this: He has
never held elected office. If he wins on Tuesday, he would have to
navigate a swamp of partisan politics in Richmond.

But as a conservative, he would be a political kindred spirit
with many of the Republicans in the General Assembly. We believe he
could be more than just a novelty candidate in 2013, but the kind
of governor who inspires confidence from Virginians and respect
from other members of the General Assembly.

What we won’t get from Sarvis is a big-government agenda. In a
year when so many other things have gone wrong, a young man with a
new way of looking at our old problems is just what the Old
Dominion needs. We’re not interested in what Robert Sarvis can do
for the Libertarian Party; we’re interested in what this young,
intelligent and highly-motivated family man can do to change the
two-party trap we’ve gotten ourselves into.

I’m off to the polls in a bit to cast my ballot for a candidate
who offers more than the usual lesser-of-two-evils electoral
choice.